I’m not a guy knitter, but I am curious to know how many we have here on the forum.
If you are a guy knitter please post how long u have been knitting here and why you took up the hobby.
Guy Knitters
I do. Like when I have to wait in my doctor’s office or something.
I’m a guy knitter. 
In public so far I’ve knitted on a plane (and the airport), while waiting for my brake pads to be replaced, and in a few bookstores.
I’ve been knitting now for just over a year. I learned at work through my boss. We were having a discussion that somehow went to knitting. I mentioned that I had always been interested and she said that she knew how. The next day she came in with a new pair of needles and a ball of yarn for me and taught me how to knit, purl, cast on and bind off.
I attempted to knit a few scarves. My first project was really experimental. I was just practicing stitches and creating small chunks of garter and stockinette. The next scarf I attempted was fast but too short to be used(I had only purchased one ball of the yarn). My third scarf was ribbed, after about a foot I made a mistake. I didn’t learn how to fix a mistake, or rip back a few rows and re-insert my needle so I quit.
About nine months later in October I took a random trip to Michael’s, bought yarn, and started knitting again. I’m finally able to repair any mistakes now thanks to knittinghelp.com and I can’t stop knitting or buying yarn.
:happydance:
The first knitter I saw knitting in public was a man. He worked at the college I went to, and was in his mid-20s at the time. It seems like he always had knitting nearby.
He knitted and crocheted, but it seems like he knitted more often. He was always working on some intricate, beautiful thing – lots of cables, colorwork, or lace – and it was never smaller than a sweater. I remember him making a red crochet evening gown with thin satin ribbon once, too.
the VERY BEST knitter i know is a man
he does these amaizing intrasia things with varigated yarn, these irregular edges to his intrasia, swirlie, look so NEAT when he uses the varigated yarns
you see the lines to the color changes, but they are not as they would be if knitted straight
and he does these HUGE sweaters with smaller gage yarn and double knit with patterns of color and texture
he is SO COOL
in about a million years I will be good nough to work at his spinnery
did I mention he spins his own yarn using wind power?
and he is nice, and helpful, and smart, and can Sing too!!!
he is definitely someone to look up to knitting wise
he was knitting at the solstice celibration he was singing at
it was good to see
ecb
:noway: you know SUPERMAN?!
:teehee:
[color=darkblue]Hi-
I’m a guy, and I knit . . . and in public too! I’ve been knitting since 1982. I also spin and (in the past) bred llama and alpaca color stock for wool, which I sold to handknitters and other fiber artists in USA and South America.
I have knit on airplanes for about 950,000 air miles and just about anywhere else I go. Can’t think of any place where I wouldn’t knit, unless all knitting were prohibited.
Cheer,
Landolphe
[/color]
gasp
wanna know how much of a fit i will throw about the concealed carry law that is going to go into effect on Monday if THIS ever happens?
unless all knitting were prohibited.
:tap:
[color=darkblue]I have been in (only) two Federal Courtrooms where knitting was not allowed, cuz of needles. Also is not permitted in a number of federal and state level prison visiting rooms for same reason.
Moral: don’t go to Federal Court or prison!
Landolphe[/color]
I am positively in awe of men who knit. I have never actually seen a man who knits. It gives my husband the shivers. He tells me he “doesn’t understand it.” The man is 40 times smarter than I am and he doesn’t understand knitting! 
Ok, for you men out there that DO knit in public, what are strangers reactions to it?
There’s a guy in my knitting group that meets in a public place, and he has no trouble knitting there. He says it’s the only time he knits because he always feels too busy to knit anywhere else.
I’m a guy and I knit. I’ve been at it for close to 30 yrs; on and off. I can’t recall knitting in public, but I would not hesitate to do it if it was convenient.
My husband knits on occasion… usually in our house, but I don’t think he’d mind knitting elsewhere as well. Well, there was one night when he was making fun of a guy friend of ours for watching “Dancing with the Stars” so I threw in a timely “oh, have you finished knitting that pink hat you’ve been working on?” but he recovered well :teehee:
I get a lot of weird looks, like guys shouldn’t knit, but most people stop and ask what I’m working on, and comment on it, etc.
[color=darkblue]Hmm, I recall having watched (with interest) my mother and grandmother knitting back when, but for whatever reason it did not capture my imagination at that time. Later,the woman in my life used to knit (English style), and I can recall my having not grasped it intuitively. But, for several reasons, I wanted to learn.
In 1982, while skiing in Vermont, I wandered into a knitting shop owned by an elderly Austrian woman, where I watched her knitting Continental style. All at once, the penny fell; all was immediately clear; I got it on the spot. She set me up with a #9 circular needle, a coupla colors of wool yarn, and handwritten instructions for making a two color, horizontal striped wall hanging. I returned to the lodge, planted myself in front of the fire, and dug in. A few hours and several glasses of wine later, I had a wall hanging. I was AMAZED that I had actually done it, had created “something” out of “nothing.” Went out in the snow, tromped around the woods, found a suitable stick, and mounted my prize wall hanging.
Next morning at 0-dark-thirty I was back at the knitting shop. She wrote out a pattern for a ski hat; outfitted me with my very own 16" US 9 circular needle (which I still have) and assorted wool yarns (" … always knit only with wool") and three books by Elizabeth Zimmermann; made me swear on her grandmother’s knitted washrag that I would never ever knit the “American” way, would always avoid straight needles, knit EVERYTHING on circular needles; and would celebrate Elizabeth Zimmermann’s birthday forever. That was it. I was hooked (bad crochet metaphor).
Landolphe[/color]
I loved your story, Landolphe!
I am a guy who knits in public.
I have been knitting for a couple months at most, and that includes about four weeks of me scowling at a skein of yarn and crumpled attempt at a scarf~ I got started mainly on a lark, though I imagine it probably originated from a general desire to create something tangible in my life. Studying in the liberal arts tends to confine one to a lot of abstract thought that doesn’t result in very much stuff that you can hold out and say “see, I did this!.” I think I started brewing beer for much the same reason.
Peoples’ reactions tend to be somewhat mixed. When I knit in public it is generally at work, and most of the women customers who see it tend to think it is neat. My female co-workers think it is cute, and I have actually taught two of them how to knit (albeit to the limited extent that I am able to teach someone to knit.) My male co-workers initially reacted in a fairly typical “that’s not very masculine” sort of way, but didn’t really make much of a chronic point of it. They certainly could have been worse. I have played the flute for many years though, so I got over the impulse to react defensively when people attempt to belittle me for pursuing “feminine” endeavors a long time ago (although I still fail to understand what is so inherently “female” about the flute, but that’s a different issue. I will, however, say that sitting in the flute section in high school certainly beat sitting next to the greasy pimply trombone players.) I imagine the lack of a “rise” played some role in the limited extent of their amusement, although in all fairness I should say that I don’t really work with mean-spirited people in the first place.
I also plan on participating in the “Feminist Knitting Circle” on campus this semester, which I think meets in the library. I really doubt there would be much of any reaction from passerby in that setting though.
Men, do you think it is more difficult for you than women to do the physical knitting because your hands are bigger? There are lots of things I can see that would cause men more consternation than women about knitting and it isn’t just the stigma attached. I can see picking colors for things, deciding on patterns, etc not as much fun for men than us women, but I may be way off the mark.
All I can say, is WTG male knitters! 
As for my husband, he can sit for hours and play Risk (gag) or those Soduku puzzles that just plain give me a headache, :hair: but knitting stumps him for some reason. Not that he couldn’t do it, I just think he stands outside the box and wonders, why? when you can buy the stuff! In his defense though, I have to say he very much liked my Beatles sweater that I made my grandson.
Faye
Maybe because it’s a bit more unusual, but I’m finding these stories of men knitting fascinating! :cheering:
My daughter’s boyfriend ask me if I’d teach him to knit. I was pleasantly surprised by this because even though he’d said his grandma knit and she’d attempted to teach him when he was very little he is now a lover of hockey, drag racing, big trucks, and all things stereotypically “male”. Nice to know he is comfortable enough to ask about knitting and I told my daughter so. 
My son (pre-teen) has always been fascinated by my needlework. I’ve always cross-stitched, and one day he asked me to teach him. So I did, and he’s not too bad at it.
He’s been watching me learn to knit and is very supportive (unlike teenage daughter who makes fun of me). If he ever asks me to teach him, I certainly will!